Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 24, 2025

Waste Water Derived Electroactive Microbial Biofilms: Growth, Maintenance, and Basic Characterization
Published on: December 29, 2013
The influence of electrode spacing on the performance of bioretention cell coupled with MFC
Wang Ya-Jun1, Chen Tian-Jing1, Li Jin-Shou1
1School of Civil Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, 287 Langongping, Lanzhou 730050, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
In order to explore the influence of electrode spacing on the performance of the enhanced bioretention system, four bioretention cells with microbial fuel cell (BRC-MFC) systems with different electrode spacing were designed, and the effect of electrode spacing on system performance was revealed by analysing its water treatment capacity and electricity production efficiency. The results showed that BRC-MFC had good water treatment capacity and could produce electricity simultaneously. Compared with other BRC-MFC systems with spacing, the BRC3 system (with an electrode spacing of 30 cm) had significant water treatment capacity under different organic loads, especially under high organic load (C/N = 10) operation, COD removal rate was as high as 98.49%, removal rate was as high as 97%, and it had a higher output voltage of 170.46 ± 6.17 mV. It could be seen that proper electrode spacing can effectively improve the water treatment capacity of the BRC-MFC system. This study provided a feasible method for improving the performance of the BRC-MFC system, and revealed the relevant mechanism. A proper electrode spacing with sufficient carbon sources could effectively improve the water treatment capacity of the BRC-MFC system.

